As a part of my series about the ‘Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry’, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Lichtenstein.

Jeff Lichtenstein is the President and Founder of ECHO Fine Properties in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He’s sold more than 1,100 homes since becoming a realtor in 2001. Jeff was named Best Realtor of the Year in 2021 by The Palm Beach Post.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the Real Estate industry?

I earned my bachelor’s degree in business management with a major in marketing from Syracuse University. Before launching my own brokerage, I worked as an agent at Illustrated Properties Real Estate and Waterfront Properties. Prior to real estate, I worked for my father’s company, Western Textile Fashion Drapery Products, as the Vice President of Marketing and Sales. There, I worked with buyers and designers to sell home furnishing fabrics to manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. As owner and founder of ECHO Fine Properties, I now manage a 70-person team. I work closely with my agents as a very hands-on broker and trainer. I’m involved in all aspects of my business — marketing, advertising, creative content, social media, SEO, and more. I earned the nickname “The Machine” because of my work ethic. I’ve sold more than 1,100 homes since becoming a realtor in 2001 and was named Best Realtor of the Year in 2021 by The Palm Beach Post.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away you took out of that story?

This crazy referral I got. He was this oddball goofball inventor. (I can’t give the product away). I showed him this property and he saw this lady coming out of the door. He says that she is a stripper and he only wants to live by strippers! Some people want to live in golf communities or 55+, and this guy wants a stripper community!

He writes up an offer, but he has a 400-credit score, so we assigned the deal to his mother. The inventor stormed out and left me and Mom at closing. Mom said she outsmarted him. Now she has equity and doesn’t have to chase him down to collect rent. A week later she called me to put the house on the market. The inventor had moved to California! She sold it for $5k more.

Do you have a favorite “life lesson quote”? Can you share a story or example of how that was relevant to you in your life?

“You can’t do a good deal with a bad guy.” This was a quote from my grandfather. In today’s world, it means avoiding negative energy. We hire people who have a good moral compass and who really want to help others. If we make an error, the negative energy person weeds themselves out as there is no one to gossip with. We doubled our sales last year and it’s because we have good people who love to help and collaborate with others. We also don’t take every client. We will go to the ends of the Earth to satisfy any “reasonable request,” but work to avoid people who are abusive with unreasonable expectations. We do more business for it and pick and choose our clientele.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Echo Home Match™ is revolutionary patent pending technology. The premise is that all those traditional searches are all over the place and they don’t first address the neighborhood. Do you want to be in a golf community? Near the beach? No HOA fees? Pets? ECHO Home Match™ uses a questionnaire approach (much like a dating service) which first matches you to the right neighborhood and then the right home. We call it Your SoulMate in Real Estate™. A real estate purchase is not like buying a box of cereal. It’s an emotional experience and an important one. Not only are the financial stakes high, but this is where you live and cry and where memories are made. We think ECHO Home Match™ is a complete game changer in search technology.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

It’s our company model. WE PAY for all marketing and advertising and lead generation. This lets our agents concentrate on selling and networking instead of creating brochures or deciding whether to pay for night shots. Our Home ECHOnomics Guarantee promises 57 items that we make happen for every client.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There were lots and still are. My dad, though, was the most constant. He recognized when I started working for him to not give me anything. I started working in the warehouse when he was in the home textile industry. I reported to others. He never had me directly report to him, which in retrospect would have been too intimidating. He has lots of stories and business philosophies like, “You can’t do a good deal with a bad guy” or “keep it simple.” When I got into the real estate business, I used to call him daily and give him a rundown. While I learned tons from a lot of people within the real estate business, my foundation was always the key element.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Real Estate industry? If you can please share a story or example.

The impact of the industry and the joy it brings to people is enormous. I remember one small sale. It was this joyful man who immigrated from Israel. He was working maybe 15 years ago on virtual reality (way ahead of his time). He purchased a home after saving for years. He planted all these little American flags in the front. To him, achieving home ownership was the American dream and he felt “American” through this purchase. How can that not inspire you?

Technology

Technology is moving so fast. It’s so interesting to see, and to figure out how to use it to create business and market our homes. Email marketing and websites were the biggest game changers. Social media was next. Internal things like DocuSign. I can’t imagine myself faxing or having people sign and countersign an offer on 80+ transactions a year. The amount of time saved is beyond enormous. QR Codes, which took a decade to have the proper effect, are another example. I’m most curious to see how virtual reality and blockchain transforms the business.

Environmental

We have a new ultra-luxury development coming to our area, Panther National, that is very environmental. There are Tesla solar paneled roofs on every home, renewable energy systems, and power storing systems. A few years back, we traveled to Sante Fe and Taos and visited this environmental building named Earthship Biotecture, which is all solar and made of upcycled or recycled materials like tires and bottles. It’s cool to see these things starting to get incorporated.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest? Please share stories or examples if possible.

Consumer education

Consumers really don’t understand how to interview or what to ask for in a Realtor. I talked to a couple selling a 2.5-million-dollar condo the other day. They were not looking at marketing materials or what the game plan was. Personality was the biggest factor. In a Buyer’s market, Sellers are more careful about going through the track record of the agent and exactly what the company is doing to earn its commission. We have a list of 57 promises we make (actually call it our Home ECHOnomics Guarantee). It’s an even bigger problem now because the money a Seller can leave on the market by not marketing properly and creating a bidding atmosphere sometimes causes Sellers to sell up to 20% less than what they could have got. Buyers are also not prepared in this market. We talk with each client for at least 30 minutes about the market and strategies from escalation clauses to understanding rights with the AS IS contract. A Buyer today can’t afford to miss out on a good purchase.

Investors

There are so many more investors today in real estate. While they serve a purpose and at times have bailed out the marketplace, it is worrisome how many homes are now under their control. Will rentals now be more the norm for younger people instead of home ownership where equity and memories are built?

Bad Actors

There are some real estate agents who do lots of business, but are bad actors at the same time. Meaning they try to “double” the sale by blocking other agents and in turn hurt the sale for the owners they are representing. There needs to be more policing of this. At the same time, it’s too easy to get licensure and we need to thin out the amount of people who can practice. Our industry has an 87% failure rate after a year. We are dealing with legal contracts, monies, emotions, and complex situations. There should be more education, and the industry shouldn’t let so many people go by trial and error with licensure.

What advice would you give to other real estate leaders to help their teams to thrive and to create a really fantastic work culture?

ECHO Fine Properties’ name is derived from the echolocation dolphins use to communicate. Just like dolphins, I want my team to work together as a pod. ECHO Fine Properties has their own in-house team of journalists, photographers, videographers, and graphic designers who handle marketing our listings, so the agents can focus on selling.

The other thing is we look for people with good character and ethics. People who gravitate toward the sunny side of the street. A person with negative energy has nowhere to go in our office as we don’t have gossipers or complainers. Keeping that discipline of who we hire is paramount to creating a fantastic work culture.

You are a “Real Estate Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the Real Estate industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each?

Branding

Agents are selling both themselves and their company. New agents are oftentimes looking for the immediate sale. People buy and sell when they are ready. Part of what you and an agent are doing is letting the community be aware of themselves. An agent is no different than Geico. Geico does not look at a billboard as a failure if you don’t call right away. The purpose is brand awareness so that when a person is ready to buyer or sell, they are familiar with you. I’ve had cases where it has taken as long as a cicada (17 years) for a Seller to ripen. Clients ripen and sell or buy at there own timeline. You want them to be familiar with you whenever they are ready.

Grind and Self Discipline

Realtors are cursed with being independent contractors. They must be self-disciplined to organize their day. No one is looking over their shoulders and most won’t call them out.

Not Knowing What To Do

Realtors get in the business and many have no idea what they are in for and what to do. Many get in for ancillary reasons like, “I’m a good decorator” or “I like houses.” It’s an outreach selling job first and foremost. In addition, they don’t teach how to do the job in real estate school. It’s vital that a new agent finds a great mentor.

Money

Our model is unique in that ECHO Fine Properties pays for all marketing, advertising, and leads. Agents run out of money as they don’t have enough to set up and they don’t have the money to support paying for advertising campaigns of the homes they get a chance to market.

Income Producing Activities

Realtors can get lost in not knowing what activities to do. Some agents have great selling skills, but they are only effective when the Buyer or Seller comes to them. Think more of a car salesperson or new home salesperson waiting for someone to come through the door. The resale world doesn’t work that way. It’s not a business for the shy bunny and it’s important to implement time during the day to do the tasks that will bring in business and not get lost on social media.

Because of your position, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I think the best sales skill a Realtor can have is the ability to put oneself in someone else’s shoes. It helps as a Realtor in understanding your clients’ needs and the party you’re negotiating with. Most of the time, people see the world only from their viewpoint. For myself, “getting” other people is most important. It’s for whatever reason an extraordinarily hard mindset for people to have. When I was growing up, a close member of our family instilled in me that I was no better than anyone else, but I was as good as everyone else. Not only is understanding others great for business, but it makes for a kinder and happier society. It’s easier to solve problems and grow on a forward trajectory. I think that mindset, which also results in more empathy, needs to be taught at home, in school, and throughout daily life with more emphasis.

Thank you for your time, and your excellent insights! We wish you continued success.